Teach-in on the Movement for Black Lives with Professor Brittany Cooper

Showcase Oregon Brittney Cooper

Teach-in on the Movement for Black Lives

Ford Alumni Center Ballroom

12:00 p.m. Session

Coined by Alicia Garza, as a Twitter hashtag in 2012, the phrase “Black Lives Matter” originally responded to the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the murder of Trayvon Martin. It was motivated by the sentiment that all other lives seem to matter more than Black lives. Over the past three years, “Black Lives Matter” has provided a unifying thread for protestors addressing a pattern of violence against the Black community. In this teach-in event, Professor Brittney Cooper, Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies, Rutgers University and Co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, Rutgers University, will discuss the focus of these issues on college campuses and offer perspectives on the intersection of race and gender in the movement for Black Lives. 

Brittney Cooper is Assistant Professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and Africana Studies at Rutgers University. She is a Black feminist theorist who specializes in the study of Black women’s intellectual history, Hip Hop generation feminism, and race and gender representation in popular culture. Her forthcoming book Race Women: Gender and the Making of a Black Public Intellectual Tradition (University of Illinois Press) examines the long history of Black women’s thought leadership in the U.S., with a view toward reinvigorating contemporary scholarly and popular conversations about Black feminism.

Dr. Cooper is also a sought after public speaker and commentator. In addition to a weekly column on race and gender politics at Salon.com, her work and words have appeared at the New York Times, the Washington Post, Cosmo.com, TV Guide, the Los Angeles Times, Ebony.com, The Root.com, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry Show, All In With Chris Hayes, Disrupt with Karen Finney, and Third Rail on Al-Jazeera America, among many others. She is also a co-founder of the Crunk Feminist Collective, a popular feminist blog. In 2013 and 2014, she was named to the Root.com’s Root 100, an annual list of Top Black Influencers.

Dr. Brittney Cooper is a proud alumna of Howard University (class of 2002) and proud native of North Louisiana.

 

This session is co-sponsored by the Division of Student Life.